A study of children's writing which challenges the so-called gender gap between boys' and girls' writing performance at primary school age is to be used in teacher training across Liverpool.
The Good Writing, Gender and 'the Gap' project, a research collaboration between the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University, stresses the need for better consensus amongst teachers and education professionals around what constitutes "good" writing by children.
Since the 1990s, there have been concerns that girls consistently outperform boys in writing attainment, which has been the subject of significant government reports.
However, this research, which analysed the writing habits of over 120 Year 5 and Year 6 children at schools across the Liverpool City Region, found that, while there are differences between boys' and girls' writing, this does not simply mean that boys are under-achieving when compared with girls.
While the study indicated that girls are better spellers, it also found that the quality of writing (including text-readability and the use of key grammatical constructions) was similar between the genders.
Through conducting a series of focus groups with teachers and education professionals, the research also suggested that perceptions of girls being better at writing than boys are strongly linked to stereotypes of performance (e.g. boys are 'less imaginative' than girls).
Overall, the study concluded that a holistic approach needed to be taken, with all aspects of writing equally considered when assessing both girls and boys.
The findings and recommendations were used by School Improvement Liverpool (SIL) in 2022 to make adjustments to their Liverpool Writing Quality Mark self-assessment criteria for schools.
The project is also the basis of new teacher training for primary school teachers. Starting in January 2025, the university researchers and SIL representatives will work with local teachers as part of their personal development (CPD) training to consider their approach in what they consider to be "good" writing and 'gendered' writing in primary school.
They will also run focus groups, questionnaires and a writing task within schools to assess how the teacher training has impacted upon the pupils' perception of writing performance. 600 children from local primary schools will be involved in the research.
Dr Victorina Gonzalez-Diaz, Reader in English Language at Liverpool and one of the lead investigators of the project, said: "Writing outcomes for primary age children in the Liverpool City Region are some of the lowest nationally, so it's great that our findings have started to be used as a tool by local policy makers."
"We are also very excited about scaling up our CPD training in partnership with SIL. Working with them will give us the chance to make sure that our training helps more primary school teachers to meet the writing challenges they may be facing in the classroom."
Alaine Sanders from SIL said: "We're delighted to collaborate with both universities and with teachers from across the city to have positive impact on our pupils' writing. As a research-driven and evidence-based organisation, we are excited to be at the forefront of this important research."
This research forms part of the Writing Over Time Project from academics at the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University. This project explores whether (and how) the writing produced by schoolchildren in the Merseyside area may have changed since the implementation of the National Curriculum in the 1980s.
